


january 1st (the day his mom died)

by nefelibata_yyun



Category: One Piece
Genre: Adorable Monkey D. Luffy, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Child Monkey D. Luffy, Child Neglect, Child Portgas D. Ace, Child Sabo (One Piece), Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Fluff, Existential Angst, Existential Crisis, Family, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Luffy Being Luffy, Portgas D. Ace Needs a Hug, Portgas D. Ace-centric, Pre-Canon, garp go eat a donut, garp you're not helping, you emotionally stunted overenthusiastic donut fanatic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28308594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nefelibata_yyun/pseuds/nefelibata_yyun
Summary: Ace sees those kids Outside of the Forest and those kids are wimps. (Ace wants to know why they have two big-people friends and Ace wants to know whyhedoesn't.)"Gramps?" Ace cocks an eyebrow when Garp doesn't reply, "did ya finally kick the bucket?"Usually, that deserved a Fist of Love but-"Ace, your father was Gol D Roger."or, Ace as a child and the birth of his douchebaggeriness (and everything that comes with it)mightttt be on hiatus. reason being: zero inspo :p
Relationships: Dadan & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Garp & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Portgas D. Ace & Sabo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	1. ace sees a dead body (he can only see his own)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first fic yee idk how this goes so dear readers (if i have any T^T) please leave a kudo and comment if you want ehe 
> 
> i need my brain vomit to go s o m e w h e r e sooooooooo

Ace was five when he first saw a dead body. 

He looked like he was sleeping or just comfortably chilling on the ground. He had lines on his forehead- probably from frowning too much, his hands were calloused from foraging through the junk; he probably got kicked out of Edge Town a while ago because he had plenty of old scars no doubt from amateurish rummaging through broken glass and metals. He had brown hair, black eyes and tan skin. Maybe around his late twenties.

He looks just like most of the people living in the Grey Terminal. Except he wasn't like most of them because he was _dead_.

He looked like he was sleeping, if not for his abnormally splotchy, pale, flaking skin and brittle hair verging on an unnatural crumbly, hay colored blonde. He would look normal, if not for the visible boniness on his limbs, and the lack of flesh on his cheeks. He was eerily still for someone 'chilling on the ground' and that was because he wasn't breathing.

Because he was dead.

He felt sick and that was _stupid_ and tons of people died- but...

_what if_ he had _family,_ maybe one that relied on him? What if he was playing breadwinner for his siblings or parents or- 

Ace kicked his body so his milky, half-lidded gaze faced the floor. At least, he had a life to live. He had _freedom._ Ace, on the other hand, was going to die sooner or later and it was all his father's fault.

Ace dreams and wishes and hopes he has some long lost brother or sister, maybe they mucked up his record and he _didn't kill_ his Mum and his Dad _wasn't a devilthateveryonehatehatehates._

( _Try to run,_ the voice in his head sounded cocky and mocking, _your father's legacy is everywhere._ )

He then stops _dreamwishhoping_ because it won't help what's left of his short, shitty life.

_If_ (because oh _hell no-_ ) he had family they would either die for him or die because of him. If he had siblings or even just _friends_ ~~or godsforbid _children_~~ then he doesn't even want to think about it-

_Ohhhh_ that's why Dadan hates me.

And Sabo-

_No_ because he's so _selfish_ he probably won't tell him. Ever. _(God Ace, how selfish, how dare you-)_

He feels the deep bubbling warmth- not warmth, because it hurts, it boils and it _rages,_ in his stomach and he doesn't know whether he hates the dead man for having a free life, his father for preventing his freedom or for himself who was so pathetic that he can't do anything but blame _dead people_. Ignorance is a blessing, sometimes, he thinks, he might've been able to live happily if not for him _knowing_. Gramps had told him that he'd be _executed_ if they found out that he was related to the late Pirate King. _Executed._

He looks at the dead body and after thinking about his inevitable fate, he doesn't feel sick anymore. ( _That's even worse._ )

He doesn't dare go Outside the Forest anymore. He's been there once and he doesn't think he can handle that much envy, jealousy, _hatred_ in himself. The children are stupid and ignorant, sheltered and foolish. They take things for granted. And Ace _hates_ them (and himself even more.)

* * *

He greets the blonde boy across the clearing.

"Sabo," he says.

"Hey, Ace," he grins and Ace doesn't smile back.

Ace had met Sabo just a few weeks after his Parents were revealed. He remembers the kid, with the gentle lilt to his voice and his strangely vast vocabulary and knows he didn't come from the slums. He even wore a god damned _napkin_ around his neck and where did he even get such weird clothes from? He probably stole them off a noble or something, not like Ace knew what _normal kids_ got up to. Spoilt. He had thought until the boy got kicked out of a bar, profanities being screamed at him and oh- we're both hated.

The boy had picked himself up and didn't cry (he wasn't spoilt, wasn't normal either) and spat out a bloody tooth. They had made eye contact then-

"I'm Ace."

"Sabo."

The unspoken friendship continued.

It's routine for them. Go around, beat up people with money and stash them in their Pirate Fund. It had been routine for the half year they were friends for. What wasn't routine was the his father's name being brought up in one of the shady bars in the outmost of Edge Town. Anniversary of Roger's death.

He tries not to stiffen but he stands there and hears them spew insult after insult, curse after curse and _I'm his son!_ he wants to scream (he wants to run, he has this ball of fury, of indescribable _anxietyinsecurityfear-_ ~~_Weakness_~~.) Sabo side glances him. 

"Oi, Ace," Sabo rubs his nose, "what are we still doing here?" He peers into the bar window and grimaces. "They're a wreck, God knows why they're making such an unruly fuss."

"Kanpai!" they holler, voices cracking and wavering, "to the Marines finally doin their fuckin' job n' killin off the scum o' the world!"

They cheer and laugh and _insult_ Roger _\- his father, to no end_ and-

"Say," Ace pushes pass the flimsy door and addresses what looks like the leader of the lot. The cheering somewhat dies down. They must've "Kanpai"-ed a lot to have gotten that drunk, he offhandedly thinks. "What would happen to Roger's family if he had one?" 

"Ace!" Sabo hisses, tugging at his arm, "what the hell are you doing?" Ace yanks his arm out of Sabo's hand (wow, he's so _mean_ ) and faces them. He wants to know- he _needs to know._

"Roger's _family_?" The drunk man squints at him, "you mean ya think that accursed monster woulda had _family_?" His voice raises and raises in pitch until he's screeching with laughter, the whole bar following him in chuckles and some of them shakes their head as if dealing with babies.

"I'd almost feel _ba-ad_ for them," a woman with mud smeared across her clothes giggles, "they'd probably get executed-" _I know_ but it still hurts that _even a stranger_ knows his fate "but of course someone would get 'em first. What do you think of it, boy-a~?"

"Yeah!" Another man yells, "can't let the other marines have all the fun, eh? I mean kid what are you even doing here if you don't know about _Roger_?" 

"If we got our hands on someone close ta Roger, we'd-" 

"Chop off his fingers one by one!" A man wheezes.

"After ripping off all his nails!" A woman with dreadlocks guffaws.

"Then everyone who had a grudge against Roger could stab him once with a needle-"

"Then," a man excitedly interrupts them, "after everyone has a go at 'em, we pour lemon juice all over his body!"

_They weren't even talking to Ace anymore so why was he listening-_

"Cre-ative~" another woman purrs, "nice one, Brad!"

"He'll probably bleed out first though," _Brad_ hollers, "or die of pain! Maybe he'll beg for a quick death and-"

Sabo yanks Ace away and when seeing his frozen figure, he drags him towards the forest and sits his best (only) friend down.

"What was that, Ace?" Sabo runs his fingers through his baby curls, knocking his hat off. "Why'd you stay around to listen to that- to that-" He looks pale, Ace realizes, and sweaty. He opens his mouth and tries to brush it off because...

Sabo can't know. He _can't._ Sabo is his best friend, his _only_ friend even if it was only for around six months and if this one decent relationship with someone other than that senile old _marine_ is broken because he was being _stupid, stupid, stupid,_ then he'd rather... ( _die,_ he does not say).

He was being selfish because it should be _Ace_ that's worried. Sabo is so nice and kind even though Ace is always harsh towards him and _what did he do to deserve bearing the burden of_ his _sin?_ (because it _was_ his and not his father's cuz that fucker went off and _died_.)

He opens his mouth and _yes, Ace, say it was nothing, it was-_

A noise between a dying puppy and a crying cow leaves his mouth. He snaps his mouth shut and cringed at the pitiful noise that left his mouth, and wishes for the ground to eat him.

"Ace!" Sabo squeaks, looking panicked and he fumbles around and blabbers, "w-what's wrong? Uhh, everything's alright? Do you, uh, want a tissue?"

Then, Ace, belatedly realized, that he was crying.

"I..."

"Yes?" Sabo is still panicking, hanging onto his every word and _god he doesn't deserve Sabo as a friend._

"I'd rather get executed." He croaks, voice hoarse and watery. _Damn it , Ace!_

"Wha-"

"Everyone gon kill me." He won't ever admit _whining._

"Ace, what are you talking about-"

"Don't want you to hate me." He wished that his voice didn't waver, he wished he was as strong as Garp said he needed to be cuz otherwise he'd die an early death. (And look at him, it's only been a few weeks; at this rate, he won't live til 10 years old.)

"Ace, what do you- what do you mean?" But Ace can see the gears turning in Sabo's head, reviewing all the words he had said before. He was always smart, super smart, _way_ smarter than Ace, especially at a mere five years old and he knew that Sabo would badger him and hint it a lot for _ages_ so he might as well just get it over and done with-

"Gol," his voice is dead and his body is numb, he looks at the rock just behind Sabo's shoulder, reminiscing their first encounter and hoping his reaction won't be too bad _(hah)._ "Gol D Ace." Ace can feel Sabo's eyes boring holes into his face. "My father is Gol D Roger, the Pirate King."

There's five beats of silence and Ace was ready to turn away and run ( _like a coward, weakling, who are you judging the other children?_ ) when Sabo grabs his shoulder and- _this is it, my best (only) friend is going to killpunchkickslapinsultleave me-_

"Hi Ace," Sabo keeps a firm yet gentle hand on his shoulder, and the corners of his mouth lifted in a tiny, scared smile. (Why is he scared?) It's not his usual big grin that shows off his missing front tooth but it's soft and genuine and _omg he doesn't hate me-_ "I go by Sabo, nice to meet you."

Ace _cries._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how did i do? too ooc?? i mean i havent read that many fics on baby ace and given he is like a floofy cheeks baby boi so-
> 
> yeet. its the next day and i reeditted it (did i spell that right?)
> 
> posted: 25/12/2020 (25th Dec)  
> updated: 26/12/2020


	2. wishes don't come true (not for ace at least)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> when ace finds out- and maybe, people need to stop assuming that he didn't have hope in his father at first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhhhhhhhhh writing is so hard and im just bullshitting this whole thing as i go
> 
> theres like no editting or planning and its shit amateur work ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

It was when he was first allowed out of the house at four and a half years old that Ace knew he was weird. Of course, at first, he was convinced every other child was stupid.

The kids he saw Outside of the Forest were wimps. They cried when they fell and always demanded to be held up by the bigger people even when the big-people had their hands full with the white crinkly bags.

Pl-as-tic. Dadan called it.

But even the big-people are weird cuz they actually _listen_ and don't call them _annoying useless brats._

They're all weird because Ace vaguely remembers screaming and crying and it _never worked_ it just made them more angry and he was locked in a room until he could _shut the fuck up._

He doesn't know what 'fuck' means but they say it so much he thought it was his name at first.

" _Mum_ " they had screamed pathetically. " _Dad_ " they had cheered ear-gratingly. Wimps.

"Princess", "honey", "darling", "sweetie"... honestly what the hell. Weirdos.

( _Maybe he's the weird one. Why don't I have those big-people? Why do I have to stay with weird scary people that seem to hate him?_ ) 

He didn't visit Outside the Forest again. (The kids hold hands with the big-people and the action seems to mock him.)

Maybe it wasn't his fault that he was weird. After all, for as long as he could remember, Ace was in the presence of a strange hippo-like human and a bunch of other _weird_ big-people who snuck around and giggled at shiny things. Except Dadan-the strange hippo, screeches like a bird with bronchitis and she has hair the color of the orange juice he gets every time Garp visits. Garp was even weirder. He was loud and happy and he boasts about his new donut record all the time. He was tall like Dadan and he sometimes broke _trees_ by _accident_. He thinks Garp is kinda like a big-person friend but...

Garp hardly visits.

But he does pick him up and hug him and it makes his chest feel weird but not a bad-weird. Garp calls Ace "Precious Grandson" and he booms it so loudly that Ace thinks his ears would start bleeding but even though it makes his head spin and his ears ring, he feels bubbly and warm (the nice kind).

But then Garp leaves and his chest drops like lead.

Next time he visits, ( _how many days, weeks, months later?_ ) he was going to ask why every child he had seen but himself had two big-people friends they called "Mum" and "Dad". Dadan said they were called Parents. And when he asked her if she (Dadan was a she, right?) was her Mum, she had scoffed. It made his chest hurt and his throat scratchy and thick. Dadan, nor any of the strange, loud big-people were his Parents. It made his eyes hot and sweaty. 

It felt bad. Maybe he was sick?

Garp had visited when he was four and nearly five so he probably won't be around for about a month, Ace had decided. But he must be pretty bad at the number problems because Garp came the next week.

* * *

"Where's my Little Itty Bitty Grandsonny?" Garp swings the door open and beams. (They both ignore the tremble of the walls and Ace can hear Dadan groan.) Ace was sitting on the bench with the shiny pole that let out water, washing the cuts he got from the cat in the forest that scratched him.

Garp gasped, "Dadan! Why is my Precious Grandson _bleeding_?" 

"He's five already, Garp!" Dadan yelled back, "-san," she added quietly before hollering, "he can take care of himself!"

"Cat scratch!" Ace cheered because Garp was a big-person that didn't yell bad words at him. But then he remembered what he wanted to ask him and sobered.

"Gar- Granddad," Ace said evenly, his blank façade not betraying his turbulent thoughts. "Who're... who're my Parents?" He felt strange saying that word. It sounded like "pear" which was another fruit that Ace hadn't had before. 

Ace had dragged him outside- or rather, Garp followed Ace outside, and they were feasting on a boar Garp had punched. Sometimes he was awed by how stupid-strong Garp was but then remembered that _he_ was stupid-strong compared to the kids in the Outside.

He looked up expectantly because he could trust Garp, and even though he didn't know what a "Granddad" was, Garp was happy when he called him that so it's probably something like the Parents.

* * *

Garp looked up at the afternoon sky and inwardly sighed, his mind racing for cover stories or lies he could come up with. Not abandonment- out of the disreputable pirate-ly scum, Roger was... decent (not that he'd ever tell his pirate butt) and he wouldn't dare telling Acey that his parents didn't want him. Dead civilian parents? Nah, Itty-Bitty Ace could already kick a dent into a tree so THAT was not possible... Pirate parents... nah. Marine parents? 

...

BAH! Garp could feel a migraine coming.

"Granddad?" Ace cocks an eyebrow and that expression makes him look just like Rouge, ( _Roger why did you give me this burden- why do I feel like thanking you for giving him to me?)_ , "did ya finally kick the bucket?"

Usually, that deserved a Fist of Love but-

_"Who're my parents?" He had looked so lonely, so dejected and he couldn't lie to that sad, small five year old-_

"Ace," Garp said lowly, scrubbing a hand through his graying hair and he never felt so old, so tired, "your father was Gol D Roger." 

* * *

Gol D Roger. Gol D Roger.

He mouthed the words because it sounded so familiar-

"Gold Roger?" Ace oohs, "the Pirate King?" because he remembers Dadan and the other big-people talking, saying his name. _That's kinda cool_ , he thinks.

But then he remembers how Dadan looks at him _(nuisance, annoying, why do I have to deal with you-)_ and asks-

"Was he a good person?"

Garp immediately scoffed, "Of course he wasn't! He was a lowly pirate scum-" before he caught up to what he said, "Ace, your father INDEED was a lowly irredeemable pirate but he wasn't thaaaaaaaaat bad!" Garp grimaces and Ace knows why.

Garp always told him stories of him as a Marine and obviously a Marine can't call a pirate _good_ soo he'll just ask others! 

"It's ok, Garp- Granddad," Ace says, "you don't have to say he's a good person." After all, since Gold Roger was so famous, people must know what he's like.

"Roger was..." Garp said slowly, "hated." He said carefully, "so you mustn't listen to what others say you understand?" Oh oops. But he can always listen to people who are like Garp- honest and nice.

"Yeah sure-" Ace knew better than to listen to those stupid drunk people Dadan sometimes meet with, "of course I won't, Granddad. And who's my Mum?" Ace said, because before Garp leaves, he had to know as much as possible about his (dead- because he's not that dumb) Parents. 

"Portgas D Rouge, she's dead." 

Ace flinches and he _knew- he knew_ she was dead but he just crossed his fingers that she was just running late... ( _Late for five years?_ )

"How did she... when did she..." His mouth is dry and he could feel the world trees bending and tilting.

"Ace," Garp sounds so defeated, so _done,_ that Ace thinks he should stop asking, "remember, even though your pirate Dad was decent, lots of people hated him and that includes the Marines."

Ace cocks an eyebrow because _duh,_ "so?"

"So..." Garp repeats as he tilts his head skywards, "so the Marines found out that he might've been a father so they went to Baterilla and-" his voice cuts off, "and _investigated._ "

Ace knows what investigate means and it isn't anything bad so...

"As in what, Gramps!" Ace snaps because he wants to know his _darn parents_! 

"They conducted DNA tests and the suspicious people were... eliminated."

 _Eliminated._ Dead. 

So not only did his Mum die because of him, but an island full of people- He can't imagine being investigated, interrogated by Marines and they were targeting _pregnant women!_

"Eliminated." He croaks, "and Mum?"

"She loves you, remember, both your parents love you," Garp says hurriedly and Ace feels dread starting to crawl up his spine but he nods anyway, "your mum loved you so much that she carried you for twenty months and died afterwards. Pregnant ladies are meant to be pregnant... for only nine months."

Ace chokes because nine and twenty _months_ are very far apart.

"Baterilla," Ace says slowly, he's pretty bad at words but he remembers that at least, "can I go there?" To visit his Mum, to see what his Mum saw, to live where she lived, to visit her _grave-_

"No." 

Ace had never felt so angry at Garp before. _'Why don't you let me? She was_ my _Mum! Who do you think you are, just barging in on my life-'_

"Ok." He says because even though he is bad at words, he understands that the world never liked him anyways.

Garp leaves hurriedly after checking the time- he looks like he's running away. He was probably annoyed and tired at him but Ace would never blame Garp. He was the only sort of nice big-person around.

(Ace hurts but it isn't bleeding even though it stings and bleeds worse than the cat scratches.)

* * *

Portgas D Ace... Garp had said that was his name because his Dad had lots of enemies that he defeated. Ace's Dad was so strong, so cool, he tries to think, so cool that Mum died.

He gives up on trying to argue with himself.

But when he asks Dadan about his Dad, she had turned cold, turned stiff and looked away. "Don't go askin' other people about that, Ace."

"That" as if his Dad wasn't even a person but a thing, a subject and _what even_?

He didn't want to know what that meant ( _but he does know, Roger was probably horrible, evil- and he was_ his Dad). Ace is scared to figure out if it's true that his Dad was as bad as Dadan thought of him. (Garp said he was good, so he is right?)

Pirates, he thinks of the stories Garp tells him about- he says they're always evil and they steal things and destroy things and set things on fire. That sounds bad, Ace thinks, but then he recalls when Garp had smiled when talking about his rival (who's a pirate) who he talked about with insults that had no bite and accusations that held no heat. They seemed close and Garp had looked _so sad_ when he was talking about him. It kinda confuses Ace because if they were trying to hurt each other, how are they so close?

He thinks that Garp's rival pirate must've been his "Dad" because otherwise why else would Garp take care of him. And because Garp is good, his "friend" must be good as well.

Ace smiles at his ingeniousness and feels a little less heavy. (Who is he fooling?)

(He still wonders, lying on the rotting wood under a piece of fabric to ward off the night's chill. Why do they look at me like that if my Dad was so close to Garp? They wouldn't help Garp if they didn't like him, right?

He pressed his face against the cool surface of the wood and he _knows_ he's going to get splinters but he can't sleep and he doesn't know why he feels the burning sensation behind his eyes _(crying, he wants to cry)_ and he's never felt the loneliness clawing up his chest _so badly_ before because especially at night, the lies he tell himself never work.

" _They were eliminated" "Twelve months" "pregnant women are meant to be pregnant for only nine months"._

Will the people who hate his Dad, hate him too? Did his Dad not only leave him but also gave him all his hate?

Ace buries his head under the thin piece of fabric that does nothing to ward off the night's chill (or his loneliness) and tries to cage himself far away from the image of a kid his age with their Parents (that he does not have) that always seem to laugh at him.)

The next time, Garp visits, it had only been a week, and Ace is really confused.

"Granddad," Ace pokes his enormous arm and Garp peers back at him, "why are you visiting so much lately?" 

"Stupid Grandson!" Garp punches him on the head and grins, "don't you want your Precious Granddad to visit you a lot?" At Ace's deadpan expression, he harrumphs.

"My own stupid son is doing stupid things so only Granddad can take care of his stuff." He exhales through his nose and scrunches up his face, muttering, "I hope it'll never come to the two of you meeting." And _oh_ Ace gets it, he's too much of a monster to hang out with Garp's kids and his _real_ kids. It makes him feel tight and numb but he's so used to the feeling that he just brushes it aside.

"Gramps," Ace pokes him again, "why does Dadan hate me?"

"Hate?" Garp bellows, "Dadan does NOT hate you! You should see that photo album she has of baby you." Ace doesn't know what photos are but he thinks that it should be a good thing.

"But..." Garp continues, voice unusually soft and it makes Ace snap to attention, "Ace, last time Senny had an emergency so I had to leave real quick but-" _that's an excuse_ Ace thought wryly, "I forgot to tell you last time. Ace, look at me."

Garp crouches down beside him and the glint of mischief (and insanity) that was always present in his eyes is absent, "you must _never_ tell anyone about your parents."

Ace's mouth goes dry because, he knows that already, so why is he taking the trouble to warn him?

"Why?" Ace already knows the answer but he asks anyway.

"Because," Garp frowns (and he's going to get more wrinkles doing that- its because of _Ace_ ), "because they'll execute you for being the Pirate King's son." 

Ace doesn't feel shocked. He knows that of course. But he still runs into the forest to scream.

(Ace kinda wishes that the only thing he was only told three things. His Dad was a King. His Mum was beautiful. And the two of them loved him more than anything else.

Ace was being stupid, of course wishes don't come true.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if its not too much trouble, ples comment and feedback cuz im an amateur and have no idea whether im meant to post more or whatever.
> 
> leave a kudo ^ - ^
> 
> matane !
> 
> updateeeedddd
> 
> posted: 25/12/2020  
> updated: 26/12/2020


	3. garp is a fool (but there's more to it)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> garp loves crackers, loves donuts and loves sleeping.
> 
> senny is so done with him.
> 
> because garp is a fool. everyone thinks that but garp himself. (everyone wants garp to stop being a fool but garp himself.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> garp-centric-ish?? how old was makino anyway? who was luffys caretaker?? i feel like once they get revealed ill seem stupid but eh
> 
> last two chapters were heavily edited again so go check it out if you havent :D

Garp is a fool. Garp plans to keep it that way.

Garp regrets it because when Ace looks at him, looking just like Rouge, just like _Roger,_ he wishes he could do more than be a tactless _fool._

* * *

"Gar- Granddad," Ace said evenly, with a scary blank face. Ace was five, he wasn't meant to hide his feelings like that and just one second into the conversation and Garp already regrets.

"Who're... who're my Parents?" Ace says it like he's tasting the words and _damn you Roger, what do I do?_

Ace had looked up expectantly with wide eyes and- Garp regrets it. Being a fool, he means.

"Gold Roger?" Ace had crooned after Garp told him, unaware of the toxic and poisonous breeding ground for _hate_ that he was going to experience, "the Pirate King?" and there's something close to awe that makes Garp want to smile and cry at the same time. Then darkness flashes over his face and Garp wants to growl because _Dadan._

Mountain bandits were the most inconspicuous places to hide kids that are hated by the world but he's a _child-_

Sometimes Garp hates his job because he can't visit his Stupid Son but then he also loves his job because that's where he _belongs._

"Was he a good person?" 

Garp immediately scoffed and he inwardly cursed his standard Marine-kneejerk reaction, "Of course he wasn't! He was a lowly pirate scum-" Garp forcibly slammed his mouth shut before cringing and rewinding, "Ace, your father INDEED was a lowly irredeemable pirate but he wasn't thaaaaaaaaat bad!"

"It's ok, Garp- Granddad," Ace says, "you don't have to say he's a good person." Yeah because Ace is going to try and figure it out himself and isn't that an absolutely horrible solution?

"Roger was..." Garp said slowly, "hated." He said carefully, "so you mustn't listen to what others say you understand?" 

"Yeah sure, of course I won't, Granddad. And who's my Mum?" 

Ace brushes it off so easily and Garp wishes he could visit his Grandson more because he can't even _get_ whether or not he's lying.

"Portgas D Rouge, she's dead." Garp replies and he wants to smack his head against a tree but that'd just ruin the forest because when did he get so bad at talking to kids?

"How did she... when did she..." Ace looks ruined and Garp had never felt so tired for having to deal with these _emotions._

"Ace, remember, even though your pirate Dad was decent, lots of people hated him and that includes the Marines."

Ace cocks an eyebrow and stopbutdon'tstopbecausethat'ssuchaRougeexpression _,_ "so?"

"So..." Garp repeats, attempting to stall, as he tilts his head skywards, "so the Marines found out that he might've been a father so they went to Baterilla and-" he won't _ever_ admit to voice cracking, "and _investigated._ "

"As in what, Gramps!" Ace snaps, impatience coloring his tone.

"They conducted DNA tests and the suspicious people were... eliminated."

He could see the penny drop on his face and the Hero of Marines really wanted to run from a hurt five year old. How the great have fallen.

"Eliminated." Ace's face is _dead_ , "and Mum?"

"She loves you, remember, both your parents love you," Garp says quickly because they _did_ , "your mum loved you so much that she carried you for twenty months and died afterwards. Pregnant ladies are meant to be pregnant... for only nine months."

"Baterilla," Ace says slowly, "can I go there?" 

"No." 

Garp could see the anger, the fury, the _indignation_ and Garp is selfish because he wished Ace could yell at him and kick him and demand an explanation so he could say 'it's not my fault'. He wishes Ace would throw a tantrum and scream and cry like _a normal five year old_ so he could scream back.

Roger gave him his responsibility and while he loves Ace. He really doesn't love the burden. (Who would?)

"Ok." Ace's face is written with pure acceptance and it hurts more than anything else because _boy don't you understand that kids your age aren't meant to be as mature as you?_

Garp checks the time and leaves. (He pretends he isn't running from Ace.)

* * *

Just a week later, he gets a cryptic message in Dragon's usual scrawl (it's still chicken scratch, even after starting a revolution, doesn't he have any organization?) stating a location and time and-

"Hmph! Stupid Son doesn't even bother greeting me?" Garp demands as he meets his Stupid Son at a shady place, semi-isolated from the Marines. The base (just a few hundred metres to the East) was horribly undertrained if they couldn't even sense Dragon here. (Dragon was just that good, as expected of my Amazing Son! He does not say.)

"Father," Dragon says (and he's still so awkward with people). He's awkwardly holding a bundle and it's until it starts stirring that Garp realises it's a toddler. Covered in his cape. Garp gapes because-

"Stupid S-" he looks around because he had flaunted his Son so much when he was younger that basically half of the older Marines knew who Dragon was, "Sister." He corrects and then cringes cuz he doesn't have a sister. He pretends to not see the embarrassed look on his Son's face. Well, on his Son's face it looks more like an 'I'm ashamed to be in the presence of such an obtuse simpleton' kind of expression.

"Is that a... is that my...?" _Grandson?_

"Father," Dragon says again and he's smiling and it's the usual D grin but much more cunning and sly and bordering _insane,_ "meet Monkey D Luffy, your grandson."

Garp leans forward to peer inside of Dragon's cape and sees the boy smacking his lips and waking up, squinting at Dragon then smiling and laughing and _omghe'ssohappy._

Garp really wants to yell at his Stupid Son and give him a few Fists of Love but he _can't_ because of the few patrolling Marines (who are so undertrained they can't even see through Garp's disguise!)

And _ohh_ that's why they were meeting here. It was so that Garp couldn't yell at Dragon for being such a Stupid Son and starting a revolution and having a Son at the same time. 

"Stupid Son," he still whisper yells and he flicks Dragon on the forehead, projecting as much Haki as he can without drawing attention. He feels a tiny bit triumphant when he looses his cool demeanor and stumbles, scowling like that little brat he was. 

"So are you here to hand me my Grandson- which you didn't even tell me about?" Garp still feels a bit petty, he knows that it's too dangerous for Dragon to contact any Marine, even if it was his own father.

"Keep him safe," Dragon says, his face seemingly emotionless but only Garp can hear the almost pleading tone to it.

"Of course," he guffaws, holding the toddler as gently as he can.

"He's obediant and fairly quiet as long as you give him attention." Dragon pulls out a notebook from somewhere then clears his throat, flipping through the pages. Garp can feel a migraine coming to jump scare him. "He eats double the amount that I remembered eating when I was smaller and he..."

Garp snatches the book with his free hand and rolls his eyes, "BAH! Just another little brat, how hard can it be?"

Dragon narrows his eyes at "another" and Garp curses his slip-up.

"Don't go around tempting fate, Father. Your luck can only get you so far. I bid you an untroubled journey."

Garp rolls his eyes again, "Stop talking weirdly, Dragon. It stopped being cool six years ago, you're not _Madam Shyarly,_ you know. I'll be _fine_ with my Precious Grandson. I'll raise him to be a fine Marine."

Dragon eyes him suspiciously but then turns around, "Good luck with that, Father."

When Dragon disappears, Haki vanishing from the wide range of his observation, Garp sighs. He was used to it but being used to it doesn't mean it hurt less. 

(Having to fight your son from two sides of a law. Two sides of justice that are both wrong and right in equal measures.

He doesn't want to have to choose between friends, families and his Marine coat.

Garp is old. Garp is _tired._ )

* * *

He eyes the old dusty house and sighs. He's been doing that a lot lately. This is what Sengoku probably feels everyday. It'll have to do. Obviously, he couldn't tell Senny that 'oh my Stupid Son visited me and gave me his Son'.

He looks at the small drooling bundle of adorableness and recalls Dragon's words.

_"He's obediant and fairly quiet as long as you give him attention."_

He thinks about Ace and the distance that seems to keep on growing between them. He thinks of the mask that _he_ couldn't even read through and sighs- he should hold a record for how many times he had been doing that recently.

Seems like he can't act like the carefree fool he was for a long time.

* * *

Makino was 13 (her birthday was last week!) and she knew running a bar was way under her league. She had her hands full after her parents had gone but when Garp arrived at Foosha with a bundle in his hands, with a conflicted expression, she didn't hesitate to approach him.

Garp had donned a strange holiday attire with sunglasses and beach shorts. They flower patterned bright shirt did not match his expression at all.

"Garp-san?" She said hesitantly and when he lowered his arms to show a squirming toddler, she gasped because he looked just like-

"What happened to..." 

"My Stupid Son said nothing about it," Garp drew his eyebrows together, "this is Monkey D Luffy, my Precious Grandson."

Makino isn't stupid. As much as the other adults felt about a twelve- now thirteen year old, Makino isn't stupid. She's stupid in adult stuff like politics and blah blah but who said she _wants_ to be smart at that boring stuff. Makino is smart. That's why Makino knows that Garp had brought a baby into the forest and visits that baby a lot. 

Makino knows that Luffy will grow up lonely because as much as she admires Vice Admiral Garp for being, well, a Vice Admiral, sometimes, she really hates how little he gets to spend with his family (and with her- Makino is _lonely and no one knows_ ). 

Makino knew running a bar was way under her league but bars are loud and the villages are kind so she's not worried about violent, dangerous things she's heard about in the neighbor kingdom Goa. Makino is lonely and bars are not.

She looks at Luffy and decides that she will do everything she can to make sure he's not lonely, that he's happy. 

This was way out of her league but it doesn't matter. Makino never cared about the details in the first place.

* * *

Garp couldn't ask little Makino to look after Luffy, but he knew were to go. After all, Woop Slap could always fix his problems.

"Woop Slap!" He bellowed as loudly as he dared, lest he startled his Grandson.

"Garp-san!" He said exasperatedly, "please don't tell me you just brought in a toddler for me to babysit."

The silence that took place was awkward and he sighed. East Blue may be the weakest of the Seas but it was also the kindest. Few wars meant fewer orphanages and child cares.

Woop Slap sighed again, more dramatically, "Give it here..."

* * *

"Gramps," Ace pokes his arm and Garp peers back at him, "why are you visiting so much lately?" 

"Stupid Grandson!" Garp punches him on the head and grins, "don't you want your Precious Granddad to visit you a lot?" At Ace's deadpan expression, he harrumphs.

"My own stupid son is doing stupid things so only Granddad can take care of his stuff." He exhales through his nose and scrunches up his face, muttering, "I hope it'll never come to the two of you meeting." Having one of his Grandson's being secluded was bad enough.

Ace needed company though, but right now, Luffy could be safe at Fuusha Village, there was no need for Luffy to have to suffer like Ace. (But even though Ace is independent and mature, he's still _five._ )

"Gramps," Ace pokes him again, "why does Dadan hate me?"

"Hate?" Garp bellows, "Dadan does NOT hate you! You should see that photo album she has of baby you." Dadan was such a tsundere. She kept cooing at baby Ace and it would make him cringe from second-hand embarrassment if he hadn't done the same.

"But..." Garp continues warily, "Ace, last time Senny had an emergency so I had to leave real quick but I forgot to tell you last time. Ace, look at me."

Garp crouches down beside him and draws in as much seriousness as he could, "you must _never_ tell anyone about your parents."

"Why?" Ace looked like he already knew the answer.

"Because," Garp frowns and he feels so conflicted- should he tell him or not? He looks at Ace again and continues, "because they'll execute you for being the Pirate King's son." 

Ace doesn't look shocked but he looks completely shattered and Garp regrets that he couldn't do more.

(Couldn't do more for the Marines, couldn't do more for his Son, couldn't do more for Luffy whom he just met, couldn't do more for Roger (who he considered a friend), he couldn't do more for Rouge who he had known only for a little while but still loved all the same. He regrets because he can't do anything more for Ace who he considered Grandson in all but blood.

Garp wasn't a fool, he was just too tired to act otherwise.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i will def edit this again cuz i typed this on my phone so its all bs.  
> too lazy to write full scenes but we'll see.
> 
> please leave kudos and comments ehe ^ - ^
> 
> seeeee ya!


	4. everything sabo says ends in an apology (im sorry)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sabo feels like he's living in some kind of food chain. except a shiny one with gold rings and fluffy hats. nobles scrambling all over each other to lick the king's feet.  
> outlook grips his arm tightly, and grits out, "apologise"
> 
> "im sorry" the words leave sabo's mouth over and over again- and now, he can't take it back.

Sabo is a noble. Everyone who sees him can tell. (He doesn't know why Ace can't though.)

Nobles are just like the koi fish in the enormous fish bowl they have, grappling and struggling to get the food off the nobles' hands. Except it's not fish food, it's the promise of the Prince title (and the 'King' that comes with it).

Sabo was three when he first started studying (to become King). He didn't know why he needed to (become King, become _best_ ) but he did it because it made his ~~Mum~~ Mother happy and his ~~Dad~~ Father proud. Sabo didn't like the frown of disappointment, and the lack of warmth from his Mother when she refused to hug him.

So Sabo studied, and Sabo observed. His family was one of the closest to the King, his Father, a high noble. He would become this 'Heir' if it made his parents proud. When he asked why he couldn't see Edge Town, his Mother had replied with: "we're distinguished nobles, Sabo. We don't meddle with mere, dirty commoners."

At four years old, Sabo had accepted it. Nobles were nobles. Commoners were commoners. Nobles were above commoners. And that was it.

At five years old, when ~~Dad Father~~ Outlook ripped his drawing and yelled at him (unjustified fury- _what did Sabo do?_ ). Sabo had ran because he had studied _so hard,_ he was the _smartest,_ the _most_ _well-kept_ and he was practically the first candidate for Heir and yet-

"Hey you there," a ginger-haired boy (because he's just a boy like Sabo), "I'm from the Royal Family which means I'm related to the _King._ Carry me back to my mansion."

Sabo had read books on how Kings were 'fair and kind and respectful'. He takes one look at the 'relative of the King' and scoffs, brushing past him.

"Hey!" he screeched, and ' _o_ _h god, did I really study my entire life to become like him?'_ "Are you disobeying the order of the Royal Family?"

 _Pathetic._ (The both of them.)

"You're just a mere noble," the boy had ground out with a startling amount of bitterness, "who do you think you are?" And with a bastardized war-cry, the boy had lunged at Sabo with a _dagger._

Sabo was smart. Sabo was well-kept. Sabo was best. (Sabo was better than the Royal Family already.)

It was pitiful, no form, no grace. Complete amateur stumbling with a knife.

"Sabo!" ~~His Mum~~ his Mother had cried, "did you really attack this boy?" It wasn't really a question- it was an accusation with _howcouldyoudothistome_ written in her eyes and _how was this Sabo's fault?_

Sabo still tries to justify his actions (he shouldn't need to- it's obvious!) but he barely registered the sting on his cheek (when ~~his Mother~~ Didit slapped him) because he felt numb and cold and-

"He isn't hurt is he?" The concern in ~~his Mother's~~ Didit's voice- the one he worked his whole (short) life for was given out like candy to this boy (same age, but dumber and weaker!), and-

 _'Kings,'_ the book had written (books should be right! Why did they lie?), _'are fair and kind and respectful.'_

He looks at ~~his Mother~~ Didit cooing over the boy in fault and watches how she bows and apologizes to the other woman. She grips his arm- _~~"Mum it hurts!",~~_ and pushes his head down. 

"Apologize!" She had hissed under her breath and there was concern and worry but it _wasn't for him._ It was concern for his place as 'closest to Heir' not her concern as him being the smartest, most well-kept and best-

And, _oh._ Because what had Sabo studied his entire life for?

He apologizes because he was raised like that ( _raised to grovel?_ Wow that's _pathetic_.)

He apologizes because he is a noble and nobles are different from 'dirty' commoners (they're much worse- and Sabo wishes he could be free).

'Kings are fair and kind and respectful.' 

Nobles are liars. 

And with that realization, Sabo runs.

The world, the people, the morals- everything.

Was he counted as smart if he was well-versed on _bias perspectives (lies)?_

Sabo runs because he can never face his fears- can never face challenge (can only beg and grovel and _say sorry_ ). 

Sabo runs and runs and runs, muscles burning and cramping, breaths coming short, quick and labored, heart pounding so loudly he could feel it in his skull.

But Sabo had ran and then finally, Sabo was free. 

(It's never that easy. Sabo knew it wasn't. But Sabo was always good with things like lies.)

* * *

Nobles hate commoners.

He figured commoners would hate Sabo too but he really didn't need to lose his baby teeth as a reminder.

His clothes were dirty and his hair was streaked with mud so he _hoped_ that they wouldn't notice, that they wouldn't-

But Sabo was raised as to be a beggar (nobles say they're the furthest thing from beggars but that's what it seems like to Sabo) and knew that _hoping_ and _wishing_ were all things that didn't work. 

(Otherwise he would've had a Mum or a Dad- he isn't bold enough to wish for more.)

Sabo can already feel a bruise blossoming on his hip from where he was kicked. It jarred his body every time he moved. If he was that boy-that-was-related-to-the-King, he would've cried because it would mean that someone would _come._ So Sabo doesn't cry because it's a waste of water and time.

Sabo hears the profanities being yelled and he never knew that the hatred between the rich and the poor were so _intense._ He sees another kid, muddy and bruised, dirt smeared across his face and instantly feels a sense of kinship between them because the way he was standing was seemingly bold and daring but he had looked for exits (to run) and his clothes were ripped and sown up by unsteady hands (he doesn't have parents to do it for him).

His eyes were darting about, wary like a wild dog's and when he saw that there was no light in his eyes, he knew that-

no one wanted either of them.

"I'm Ace."

"Sabo."

He didn't know whether or not they were friends but they met up at the same place, learnt how to fight together; Ace was the brawn and Sabo was the brains. Sabo likes to think they were friends but he's scared to ask in case Ace finds out (because he always glared at people that lived even a _little_ bit wealthier and always hit people related to nobles a _little_ bit harder). He doesn't talk much and doesn't do the gestures that were ingrained in his mind ever since he could walk and talk in fear of his noble status being revealed. Sabo knows Ace isn't stupid so he doesn't know why Ace hadn't confronted him on it. _(Does he really not know?)_

* * *

They didn't really start talking- not _really_ until that one _enormous_ man goaded him-

"Little boy, hand over that bag ya got there and I'll let you run home to your Mommy." His voice was mocking and derisive and Sabo wanted to _cave his head in._

"I won't run!" Ace had snarled, and Sabo looked at him incredulously because,

"That's a freaking _adult,_ Ace!" Sabo's voice is high in pitch because that man was _huge._ "A freaking _big_ one!"

"Leave if you want to, Sabo, but when I face an enemy, I won't run!" 

Damnit! Sabo really _regrets_ telling Ace what 'enemy' means.

When they head back to the river to wash out the dirt from the fight, Sabo finally gathers enough irritation (pettiness) to cup a handful of river water and splashed it into Ace's face.

"You idiot!" He screeches, "that was really dangerous, you know? What if he had another dagger or _gods forbid_ a _gun,_ then we would've been _so dead!"_

And when he finally voiced it aloud he realized he _was_ worried and when the two of them shared unspoken words in the silence of the trickling river, they were closer than they were before.

(Little did Sabo know, it was because Sabo showed that he _cared_ for Ace.)

On the outside, Ace had just cocked an eyebrow.

Sabo really wanted to face palm but his hands were wet.

(Ace was brave, at least, Sabo secretly thinks, he faced his adversaries head on while he...)

* * *

When Ace stopped, in front of a bar, Sabo was confused because if they go into a bar, who knows what those drunk idiots would do? He paid no mind to the insults thrown at Gold Roger, he was aware of the date: anniversary of Roger's death. He starts to feel queasy as the curses grow more and more morbid and _Ace, what is he doing?_

"Oi, Ace," Sabo peers at him, confused, "what are we still doing here?" He looks into the mirror and sees half-passed out, drooling men and women. "They're a wreck, God knows why they're making such an unruly fuss."

"Kanpai!" they holler, their unsteady postures _screaming_ blind drunk, "to the Marines finally doin their fuckin' job n' killin off the scum o' the world!"

Sabo really does _not_ want to listen to this-

Even the nobles weren't that crude. (He should stop referring to the nobles, the noble Sabo isn't alive anymore, remember?)

"Say," Ace pushes pass the swinging door and addresses the leader. Sabo nearly has a _heart attack._ "What would happen to Roger's family if he had one?" Sabo pointedly looks at Ace, trying to get his attention because he doesn't like _that many eyes on the two of them._

"Ace!" Sabo hisses, tugging at his arm, "what the hell are you doing?" Ace yanks his arm out of Sabo's hand and faces them. Sabo pretends not to be hurt by the action but he's really scared; not of those bumbling old drunkards but for _Ace_ who looks so apprehensive.

"Roger's _family_?" The drunk man squints at Ace, "you mean ya think that accursed monster woulda had _family_?" His voice is _ear-grating_ and he wants to leave but he won't let Ace deal with these strange, impulsive drunks alone.

"I'd almost feel _ba-ad_ for them," a woman laughs and hiccups, "they'd probably get executed but of course someone would get 'em first. What do you think of it, boy-a~?" Sabo blanches when her tongue darts out to lick her lips because _ew she's like a pedophile-_

"Yeah!" Another man yells, "can't let the other marines have all the fun, eh? I mean kid what are you even doing here if you don't know about _Roger_?" 

"If we got our hands on someone close ta Roger, we'd-" 

"Chop off 'is fingers one by one!" 

"Afte' rippin' off all him nails!" 

"Then everyone who had a grudge 'gainst Roger could stab 'im once with a needle-"

"Then," a man interrupts them with far too much enthusiasm, "after everyone has a go at 'em, we pour lemon juice all over his body!"

Sabo tries to tune out to their words but the loudness is surrounding them and _Ace, why can't we leave?_

"Cre-ative~" another woman purrs ~~and Sabo really understands when nobles frown at people like this~~ , "nice one, Brad!"

"He'll probably bleed out first though," the 'Brad' yells, "or die of pain! Maybe he'll beg for a quick death and-"

Sabo feels sick but Ace is quiet- too quiet, by his side. He takes a surreptitious glance at him and Ace looks like he's about to throw up so... ' _o_ _k that is enough-'_

He yanks Ace away and when seeing his still frozen figure, Sabo gives a little sigh and drags him towards the green sanctuary of the forest and sits his best (only) friend down.

"What was that, Ace?" Sabo runs his fingers through his hair and he really should get rid of that habit because _ugh_ now he has to wash his hair again. "Why'd you stay around to listen to that- to that-" 

Ace opens his mouth then closes it, 'like a fish', Sabo's mind helpfully provides.

Ace's face is carefully blank and he doesn't even seem to be _aware_ of the fact that he's pushing Sabo away. Ace opened his mouth again but a _noise_ tears out of his throat. It's a noise that shouldn't be allowed to leave a _five year old's_ mouth because _who fucking hurt his best friend-_

Sabo looks at Ace again to prod him for answers when he sees _tears_ forming in his eyes and that's _Ace,_ the super-mega, stupid power tank of a _five year old._ It's the Ace that "never runs when he faces an enemy" and Sabo _says_ it pisses him off (but he actually admires that)-

"Ace!" Sabo squeaks as horror and mortification fills him, did he just _squeak?_ "W-what's wrong? Uhh, everything's alright? Do you, uh, want a tissue?" Sabo cringes because he was so _bad_ at this comforting thing. There were never books on how to do this and Sabo was just being dumb because there weren't even tissues in the middle of the forest- _oh god Sabo you suck-_

"I..."

"Yes?" Sabo says a little bit too desperately, hanging onto anything Ace says that could get them both out of this _emotional_ mess.

"I'd rather get executed." Ace wheezed. 

"Wha-" Because what did Ace even _mean-_

"Everyone gon kill me." Sabo _doesn't get it-_

"Ace, what are you talking about-"

"Don't want you to hate me." 

Sabo had never been so confused before and maybe he should've read that 'Psychology' book even though it was too fat and heavy and filled with words that Sabocouldn't make hide nor hair of.

"Ace, what do you- what do you mean?" Sabo tries to think of everything that had happened, scanning each conversation and: Roger's anniversary caused this reaction and _"Roger's family"._ But Roger couldn't _possibly_ have family, not with the precautions the Marines put in, but-

 _Execution? Roger's family?_ Sabo thinks of Ace's anxiety and his fear and _where are his guardians-_

 _"I'm an orphan,"_ he had spat with the vitriol no five year old should have and he looks back into Ace's jaded eyes and wonders-

"Gol," Ace says quietly, his voice low and dead. "Gol D Ace. My father is Gol D Roger, the Pirate King." 

Sabo _stares._

'His age isn't right' is the first thing that comes to mind and Sabo wonders if it's possible to hate your brain. Gol D Roger. Not Gold Roger, and that was another mystery but-

He's the son, the _son_ of the _Pirate King._ And _woah_ Sabo befriended such a badass-

_"Executed-"_

_"Chop 'is fingers off-"_

_"Rippin' of his nails-"_

_"Stab 'im with-"_

_"Bleed out-"_

_"Die of pain-"_

_"_ Beg for a quick death _"_

He hears the cackles and the giggles and the sadistic _laughter_ and they ring in his ears.

_"...One by one..."_

_"I'm an orphan."_

And Sabo had never felt so _infuriated-_

Ace shifts to leave and suddenly all the anger drains out of his body when he sees the fear, the expectance and the _acceptance_ in his eyes because _surely_ Ace wouldn't think that Sabo would leave him.

Sabo grabs his shoulder and he's bad at comforting, bad at feelings but accepting someone for who they are and not their father is easy, all he has to do is-

"Hi Ace," Sabo is sure that the smile on his face is small because _Acedon'tleaveme, don't push me away-_ "I go by Sabo, nice to meet you."


End file.
